text:
Irish consumers do not feel short-changed by rounding policy
New report shows positive response to the decommissioning of 1c and 2c coins
More than 120 million one and two cent coins have been decommissioned since the Central Bank moved to take them out of circulation almost 12 months ago, a new report indicates. Photograph: Michaela Rehle/Reuters
More than 120 million one and two cent coins have been decommissioned since the Central Bank moved to take them out of circulation almost 12 months ago, a report released on Monday indicates.
The report says the vast majority of Irish consumers and retailers have fully embraced rounding, with 93 per cent describing themselves as either positive or neutral about rounding to the nearest five cent cash transactions in shops. For their part, 80 per of retailers have adopted the measure.
The Central Bank also said the rate of public awareness of rounding stood at 75 per cent.
It was introduced last year following a successful trial in Wexford to help reduce the levels of 1 and 2 cent coins in circulation, most of which were not in daily use.
The cost of producing the coins was more than their monetary value and they were being hoarded or even thrown away while inflation had caused the purchasing power of the lower denomination coins to fall by over 20 per cent since their introduction.
According to the Central Bank, the costs of minting replacement coins has fallen since rounding was introduced.
“Rounding is conducted on a voluntary basis for both consumers and retailers, so we’re pleased to see 80 per cent of retailers are applying it and the vast majority of the public surveyed have no issues with the process,” said John Geelon, deputy head of the Central Bank’s payment and securities settlement division.
“The Bank has received lodgements of 126 million unwanted 1 and 2 cent coins, which is a sign that rounding is being embraced.
“Our experience in rounding has been generally positive and we would urge any consumers or retailers who aren’t rounding to try the scheme.”
For rounding to happen, both retailer and the customer must accept it and both retain the right to use exact change.
Rounding only takes place on the total bill, not on individual prices, so existing price points (for example items priced at 99 cent) remain unchanged.
Rounding does not apply when bills are paid electronically, such as by debit card, credit card or by store card.


text:
- Tofurky is launching a plant-based beef-style burger at more than 600 Target stores in the U.S. this month, according to a release. The two-patty packs are non-GMO and vegan.
- The burger is a combination of soy protein, vegetable protein and wheat gluten. It is seasoned with salt, onion, garlic and black pepper.
- Jaime Athos, president and CEO of Tofurky, said in the release that they decided to debut the new burger now because "many flexitarians resolve to go completely plant-based for the month of January."
Tofurky seems to be betting that its reputation as a legacy plant-based protein producer will help its latest innovation stand out on shelves despite increased competition.
The brand originally debuted its signature plant-based turkey replacement product back in 1995 and has more recently launched new products as the plant-based food and beverage segment has grown. This new plant-based burger comes after Tofurky recently accepted $7 million in private funding — the first debt position investment the private, family-owned business has ever taken on.
Despite its legacy reputation, it won't be easy for Tofurky to stand out in the crowded plant-based burger shelves. Other plant-based protein brands have dominated the space, including Impossible Foods, which started selling its burger in grocery stores last year, and Beyond Meat, which went public last year. But it's not just the plant-based giants. From Nestlé and Kellogg to Smithfield and Tyson, this trend has pushed big companies to launch more products in the space over the last year. Even grocery stores, like Costco and Kroger, are launching their own plant-based burger retail products.
Being a legacy veggie company in a market with new products that are gaining consumer attention is a difficult feat. Conagra's Gardein, Kellogg's MorningStar Farms and Kraft Heinz's Boca have moved aggressively to try to keep up their own portfolios as new products with a more meat-like texture and taste have come to market.
That seems to be the same case with Tofurky. The brand did previously launch a plant-based ground beef product, but it discontinued it to push out these new burgers, Forbes reported in October.
"We had a DIY product, but we rushed to market with it," Athos told Forbes. "You could shape it into a burger patty, but I think what happened with that one was we were never able to fully realize the quality we can get within our own kitchen. So, we scrapped that plan and pulled it from the market and started over."
Tofurky is also leaning into its sustainability efforts. Its patties will use recyclable cartons that offer 23% less paperboard material and inner packaging that has 69% less plastic film waste than others in the segment, according to the release. The company also claimed the burger's soy base is more sustainable compared to pea protein.
The new Tofurky burger will be made with soy, which is similar to the Impossible Burger and Kellogg's Incogmeato patty. Although using soy could make the taste and texture of the product more realistic, it could also face difficulty with consumers looking to avoid the ingredient, which is a top allergen. Pea protein has become an increasingly popular ingredient base in plant-based meat and for those looking to avoid soy. Beyond Meat's products use it, as well as Lightlife’s Plant-Based Burger and Nestlé’s Awesome Burger.
Plant-based foods are no longer just for vegans and vegetarians since consumers of all kinds are seeing them as an alternative to products like meat, milk, yogurt and cheese. Tofurky has seen that impact with its own sales, the company has sold more than 5 million holiday vegan roasts. As a result of increased interest, the company recently debuted a line of plant-based, dairy-free frozen cheesecakes and relaunched several flavors of frozen, plant-based Tofurky Pockets, which were discontinued in 2018.
Plant-based protein and meat alternative growth is projected to increase from $4.6 billion in 2018 to a massive $85 billion in 2030, according to investment firm UBS. Despite competition, that expected growth could push Tofurky and others to launch even more protein products in the space in the future.

domain: news


text:
InfraSource est Q2 pretax loss on contract $6M to $8M (5:39 PM ET) SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- InfraSource Services Inc.,
the Media, Pa., contractor for U.S. utility transmission and distribution infrastructure, said it expects a second-quarter pretax loss of $6 million to $8 million on an underground utility construction project. The project, which began in late January and is expected to be completed in September, had an original contract value of $18 million. The company began a review of the project "as a result of information which recently came to its attention during its regular evaluation of major projects," InfraSource said. InfraSource obtained an amendment and waiver from its lenders to "exclude from the company's representations and warranties the anticipated effect of the loss related to the project through July 25."
KB Home net beats Wall Street estimates (5:24 PM ET) BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- KB Home
after the closing bell Thursday reported second-quarter net earnings of $181.5 million, or $2.06 a share, compared with $102.1 million, or $1.20 a share, in the year-ago period. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call had expected per-share earnings of $1.78. Shares of KB Home gained $1.29 to $77.25 on Thursday.
CenterPoint est Q2 FFO 52c-56c; First Call 60c (4:48 PM ET) SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- CenterPoint Properties Trust,
the Oak Brook, Ill., real estate investment trust, expects to report second-quarter funds from operations that are shy of analysts' estimates. The company sees second-quarter earnings of 44 cents to 50 cents a share and FFO
of 52 cents to 56 cents. The consensus FFO estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call is 60 cents. CenterPoint affirmed its 2005 estimate of earnings, $2.58 to $2.88 a share, and FFO, $2.47 to $2.67. The estimates reflect a charge of $4.7 million to reflect the vesting of employee stock grants awarded for 2002 performance under a long-term pay-for-performance plan.
RF Monolithics quarterly profit drops (4:29 PM ET) SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- RF Monolithics
after Thursday's closing bell reported fiscal third-quarter earnings of $58,000, or 1 cent a share, compared with earnings of $793,000, or 9 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue was $11.3 million, down from $13.6 million last year as a result of a decline in various components markets, notably the automotive market, the company said.
California Micro predicts lower Q1 sales, profit (4:21 PM ET) SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- California Micro Devices
late Thursday issued first-quarter sales guidance between $14.4 million to $15 million, lower than the $16.5 million it earned in the year-ago period. Earnings per share, including restructuring charges, are forecasted at breakeven or 1 cent a share. California Micro earned 9 cents a share in the year-ago period. Its fiscal first quarter ends June 30.
Adobe posts higher revenue, profit on Acrobat demand (4:14 PM ET) LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Adobe Systems Inc.
late Thursday afternoon said its fiscal second-quarter earnings rose to $149.8 million, or 29 cents a share, from $109.4 million, or 22 cents a share earlier. Revenue rose 21% to $496 million from $410.1 million a year ago thanks to strong demand for its Acrobat digital-document software. Excluding unusal items, the company would have earned 28 cents a share for the three-month period that ended June 3. Wall Street analysts, on average, had expected earnings of 27 cents a share on revenue of $491.7 million, according to a Thomson First Call survey. Looking ahead to results for the current fiscal third-quarter, Adobe predicted it would earn between 25 cents and 27 cents a share on revenue of $470 million to $490 million.
Clarcor Inc. hit by analyst downgrade (2:56 PM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Shares of Clarcor Inc.
slid $1.47, or 5.2%, to $27.05 Thursday after Sidoti & Co. downgraded the stock to neutral from buy in the wake of the company's fiscal second quarter results. Clarcor reported earnings of 33 cents a share -- in line with analysts' expectations -- but Sidoti analyst James Gentile told clients the potential for earnings acceleration and multiple expansion thorugh fiscal 2006 is muted.
Equinix scores w/ data center acquisition, higher view (1:03 PM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Equinix
shares leapt 16% to $43.16 in afternoon trades on Thursday after the company acquired a fourth data center in Silicon Valley and lifted its financial outlook for 2005. The Foster City, Calif., company said the center adds 120,000 square feet to its footprint in Silicon Valley and that the acquisition was made in response to strong customer demand. For 2005, Equinix now sees revenue of $215 million to $219 million, up from a prior projection of $209 million to $215 million. It anticipates earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $64 million to $68 million, up from its previous forecast of $61 million to $65 million.
Minerals Tech tumbles on Q2 warning (12:32 PM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Shares of Minerals Technologies
fell 7.2% to $63.60 Thursday after the New York-based minerals company warned that its second-quarter results will be significantly lower than forecast. The company attributed the shortfall to an extended lockout in the Finnish paper industry, higher than anticipated start-up costs at two new facilities in China, continued ramp-up costs at a merchant facility in Germany and recent softness in the steel and automotive markets it serves. The company said talks with the union in Finland broke down Wednesday and that the paper companies involved have extended their lockout until July 6. Minerals Technologies didn't provide an updated outlook for the period but the current average analysts' estimate for the company's results published by Thomson First Call is for earnings of 79 cents a share in the June period.
SBC to take Q2 $236M pretax charge for WilTel pact (11:03 AM ET) SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- SBC Communications
will take a pretax charge of $236 million in the second quarter to end a service agreement with WilTel Communications, a unit of Leucadia National Corp.
according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday. The two have also signed a new pact that reduces SBC's commitment to use WilTel's services. SBC in in the process of acquiring AT&T Corp.
and plans to switch most of its long-distance services to that network. Under the new arrangement, SBC will pay a $236 million fee to terminate the old agreement, which expires on Dec. 31, 2009. SBC will pay $11 million of the fee on Jan. 3, 2006. The rest would be paid in 12 monthly installments either beginning on April 20, 2006, or at the closing or termination of the AT&T acquisition.
Adobe ticks higher ahead of expected higher results (11:02 AM ET) LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Adobe Systems Inc.'s stock
edged higher Thursday ahead of the digital-document management software company's expected quarterly results. In recent trading, the San Jose, Calif., company's shares added 13 cents, or 0.4%, to $32.13. Wall Street analysts, on average, anticipate Adobe will earn 27 cents a share on revenue of $491.7 million, according to a Thomson First Call survey. A year ago, the company earned 22 cents a share, adjusted for a two-for-one stock split, on revenue of $410.1 million. At J.P. Morgan, analyst Sterling Auty expects a solid report from the company, which could deliver near-term strength in the shares.
Max & Erma's Q2 loss 37c; will close 2 stores, open 6 (9:53 AM ET) SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Max & Erma's Restaurants Inc.,
the Columbus, Ohio, chain, swung to a second-quarter loss on 2.7% higher revenue and said it would close two restaurants. The net loss was $944,000, or 37 cents a share, for the quarter ended May 15, compared with net income of $497,000, or 19 cents, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue reached $43 million from $41.9 million. The company took a $1.5 million pretax charge in the quarter for the planned closing of two restaurants, the write-down of assets at four underperforming restaurants, and the write-off of certain costs. The moves should save the company $800,000 a year, it said. Max & Erma's said it will open six restaurants in the second half.
Carnival climbs as second-quarter profit rises 27% (9:29 AM ET) LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Cruise operator Carnival Corp.
(UK:CCL)shares advanced 1.7% in London after it said second-quarter income climbed 27% to $409 million, or 49 cents a share, with revenue up 11.5% to $2.52 billion. Previously announced cancellations hit earnings by 3 cents a share during the quarter. Analysts had expected an EPS of 45 cents a share, according to Thomson First Call. The increase in second quarter earnings was driven by both a 5.3% increase in new cruise capacity and a significant growth in cruise net revenue yields, which offset higher fuel costs, the Miami-based company said. It upped its fiscal year guidance to $2.70 from $2.67, noting less inventory to be sold than a year ago despite the increase in capacity. Third quarter EPS should be between $1.33 and $1.35.
New York Times cuts '05 ad revenue growth outlook (9:00 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- New York Times
now sees 2005 advertising revenue growth in the low- to mid-single digit percentage range, down from its prior forecast of mid-single digit percentage range, due to a weaker-than-anticipated June. The newspaper publisher also cut is capital expenditure estimate to $215 million to $245 million from $235 million from $265 million. For the second-quarter, the company expects earnings of 38 to 42 cents a share, down from 50 cents a share in the same period a year go. The company expects to record a $6.1 million, or 4 cents a share charge during the quarter, as well as a smaller charge in the third-quarter, related to workforce reductions, and a $6 million, or 2 cents a share charge associated with stock option expensing. The stock closed Wednesday down 23 cents at $30.74.
Clorox confirms Q4, FY earnings/sales outlook (8:37 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Clorox Co.
Thursday confirmed its outlook for its fiscal fourth quarter, saying it still expects to earn 91 to 97 cents a share on sales growth of 4 to 6% in the period. The Oakland, Calif., consumer products company also backed its view for the fiscal year ending June 30, forecasting earnings from continuing operations of $2.80 to $2.86 a share on sales growth of 4 to 6%, and total earnings of $6.02 to $6.08 a share. The current average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson First Call is for earnings of 93 cents a share for the June quarter and $2.84 a share for the full year. The stock closed Wednesday at $57.08, down 4 cents.
Analysts cut targets ahead of Goldman Sachs' miss (8:37 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Analysts had been trimming their targets for Goldman Sachs
in the weeks ahead of the investment bank's earnings miss on Thursday, according to Thomson Financial. Banc of America Securities cut its target to $1.90 a share from $2.10 a share on June 3. Bear Stearns on June 10 reduced its earnings mark for Goldman to $1.86 a share from $2.33 a share. Goldman's actual second-quarter net income of $1.71 a share fell well short of the Wall Street target of $1.87 a share. Shares of Goldman Sachs rose 89 cents to $99.19 on Wednesday.
Goldman Sachs Q2 net falls, misses target (8:32 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Goldman Sachs
said Thursday that its second-quarter net income fell to $865 million, or $1.71 a share compared to $1.19 billion, or $2.31 a share a year ago. Total net revenue for the quarter fell to $4.81 billion from $5.51 billion a year ago. Goldman was expected to earn $1.87 a share on revenue of $4.96 billion, according to a survey of analysts by Thomson First Call. Shares of Goldman Sachs rose 89 cents to $99.19 on Wednesday.
Lee Enterprises May ad revenue rose 4% (8:13 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Publisher Lee Enterprises Advertising
Thursday said its property advertising revenue rose 4% in May from year-earlier levels. The company's Pulitzer Inc. unit, which Lee acquired on June 3 and puts out the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and 13 daily newspapers, had a 2.9% advertising revenue increase last month. On Wednesday the company's stock rose 3 cents to $41.83.
Actuant details options costs, sees 06 earnings growth (7:56 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Actuant Corp.
a motion control systems and branded hydraulic and electrical tools and supplies group, said it would restate its earnings for the first three quarters of fiscal 2005 to reflect stock option compensation expenses in the fourth quarter. It estimates the impact for the year at $2.7 million non-cash reduction to net income or at 9 cents a share. It said it "believes that the approximate 3.5% earnings per share dilution from the new accounting rule is in line with its multi-industry peers." Earnings for the fiscal third quarter ending in May rose to $20.8 million or 68 cents a share from 29 cents a share in the year-ago period when the group took a charge to retire debt. Sales rose 38% to $271.7 million, but core sales were down 1% excluding the currency impact. It said due to a sales declines its automotive convertible top and recreational vehicle businesses, third quarter sales for businesses owned at least twelve months declined 7% compared to the prior year, excluding foreign currency rate changes. Looking ahead, the group expects 2006 earnings per share from $2.75 to $3.00, 15%-25% above its fiscal 2005 estimate. Fiscal 2006 sales are expected to be in the $1.15-$1.175 billion range, it said.
Progress Software Q2 profit rises 51% (7:35 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Progress Software Inc.
Thursday reported second-quarter net income of $12.2 million, or 30 cents a share, up 51% from $8 million, or 21 cents a share, a year earlier, citing higher sales and software license profits. On an adjusted basis, earnings were 35 cents a share, up from 24 cents a share, a year earlier. The Thomson First Call analysts average estimate was for earnings of 31 cents a share. Revenue rose 10% to $100.2 million. The Bedford, Mass maker of application infrastructure also forecast third-quarter earnings of 24 cents to 26 cents a share, and of 30 cents to 32 cents a share, on an adjusted basis; the First Call estimate is for quarterly earnings of 31 cents a share. For 2005 Progress Software predicted adjusted earnings of $1.26 to $1.30 a share, with revenue of $397 million to $403 million. The First Call estimate is for earnings of $1.24 a share. On Wednesday the company's stock fell 25 cents to $28.20.
YUM: China sales recovery seen at 'slow but sure pace' (7:35 AM ET) LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Yum Brands
affirmed its expectation for second quarter earnings per share of 56 cents - in line wtih the average estimate from analysts polled by Thomson First Call. The Louisville, Ky.-based restaurant company said second-quarter U.S. blended same-store sales at company restaurants rose 5%. International division system sales rose 6% for the period, or 11% in dollars. Looking ahead in operations in China, it said: "Currently, we expect Period 7 system sales (the four-week period ending July 9 for the U.S. businesses) to increase 2% to 3% versus last year and sales recovery from the low point in the last week of Period 4 to continue at a slow but sure pace," it said.
Smucker net dips on charges, sales advance (7:31 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- J.M. Smucker Corp.
said Thursday that fiscal fourth-quarter net income dipped fractionally to $22.1 million, or 38 cents a share, from $22.2 million, or 44 cents, a year ago. Excluding discontinued operations and restructuring costs, earnings would have been 58 cents a share, or 1 cent ahead of analysts' average estimate, according to Thomson First Call. Net sales for the period ended April 30 grew 57% to $491.5 million from $312.4 million in last year's fourth quarter. Excluding the acquisition of the Multifoods business, sales would have advanced 8%. For fiscal 2006, the Orville, Ohio, packed foods maker said it remains committed to 10% profit growth, excluding a total of about 22 cents a share for merger and restructuring costs. The company's stock closed up 44 cents at $50.84 Wednesday.
Entegris net income falls (7:23 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Entegris, Inc.
on Thursday reported third-quarter net income of $7.1 million, or 9 cents a share, down from $9.2 million, or 12 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue in the quarter totaled $87 million, down from $98.6 million. A survey of analysts by Thomson First Call forecasted earnings of 7 cents a share and revenue of $86.6 million. Shares of the Chaska, Minn. rose 12 cents to $10.20 on Wednesday.
Ultralife Batteries cuts Q2 view due to order delay (7:21 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Ultralife Batteries
lowered its financial outlook for the second quarter, saying a planned order from the Defense Department won't occur in the period. The Newark, N.Y., company now anticipates modest operating income for the quarter on revenue of about $21 million. Its prior projection was for a profit of about $2.5 million on revenue of roughly $28 million. The company said there was a delay in the qualification of its BA-5390 batteries that required the Defense Department to make the purchase under an "urgent buy" contract, which took longer than expected. Ultralife remains on track to complete qualification of thhe BA-5390 batteries in the third quarter under its Next Gen II, phase IV award from the Defense Department. Ultralife Batteries' shares closed Wednesday at $16.04, down 6 cents.
Winnebago Industries' quarterly profit, sales slip (7:13 AM ET) LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Winnebago Industries, Inc.
said third-quarter net income fell to $17.6 million from $17.7 million in the year-ago quarter. Earnings came in at 52 cents a share versus 51 cents a year earlier, topping the 49 cent-a-share forecast of analysts polled by Thomson First Call. Sales for the quarter declined 17.8% to $255 million on lower deliveries and lower production efficiencies. In addition, the motor home manufacturer raised its quarterly dividend 29% to 9 cents a share and said it plans to buy back up to $30 million worth of stock.
Asat 4Q net loss widens to $36.7M after impairment chg (6:34 AM ET) LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Semiconductor company Asat Holdings Ltd.
said that its fourth-quarter net loss widened to $36.7 million, or 27 cents a share, from $9.2 million, or 7 cents a share, last year, hit by a $19.9 million impairment charge. Sales dropped to $44 million, from $63 million last year. The company said that it expects to make further headcount reductions in Hong Kong over the next months, which it believes will have a positive impact on bottom line performance in fiscal 2006 due to cost savings. The company also said that its chairman William Stuek has resigned to pursue other opportunities and that Henry Montgomery was elected chairman in place of Stuek.
Corus sees better operating performance in first half (6:13 AM ET) LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Metals producer Corus Group PLC(UK:CS)
on Thursday said it is a marginally better operating performance in the first half but more difficult trading conditions during the second half. The group also said it would re-start making dividend payments at interim results. Corus said it anticipates European stocks at normal levels near the end of the year.
Wimm-Bill-Dann profits fall on currency effect (2:38 AM ET) LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Russian food and dairy group Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods OJSC
said first-quarter net income fell to $2.9 million, or 7 cents a share, from $5.3 million, or 12 cents a share, hit by a decline in foreign currency gains and by gross margins falling to 25.7% from 26%. Sales rose 17% to $326 million. The company said the first quarter is traditionally the most challenging of the year.
Ubisoft swings to FY profit, targets 600M eur in sales (2:26 AM ET) LONDON (MarketWatch) -- French video-game developer Ubisoft Entertainment SA(FR:005447)on Thursday said it sees operating income of 55 million euros on sales of 600 million euros in fiscal 2006. Ubisoft swung to a net profit of 20 million euros in the fiscal year to March 31, 2005. In the year earlier, the company posted a loss of 9 million euros. Sales for the period climbed to 538 million euros from 508.4 million euros. Looking ahead, Chief Executive Yves Guillemot said in a prepared statement that he expects the company to double in size and to triple its net income in the next four years.
Avis Europe to raise GBP110.5M through rights issue (2:21 AM ET) LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. car rental firm Avis Europe PLC(UK:AVE)has proposed to raise 110.5 million pounds through a rights issue. It said it would issue four new shares for every seven shares at 35 pence a share, adding the 334.7 million new shares represent around 36.4% of its share capital after the issue. The aim of the issue to fund the next phase of its recovery strategy, targeting ongoing cost reduction and an improvement in operating margins of 3 to 5 percentage points over the next three to four years. Avis said its major shareholder, D'Ieteren, has committed to taking up around 70 million pounds of the new shares, representing its full entitlement under the rights issue.


text:
By Julian Lee
SHAREHOLDERS in Australasia's largest marketing services company, Clemenger Group, voted overwhelmingly in favour of a $150 million take- over by the New York global marketing services company Omnicom.
At meetings held simultaneously in Clemenger's Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland offices the 469 local shareholders in the unlisted public company voted through the bid by Omnicom's BBDO advertising division to lift its stake in Clemenger from 46.7 to 73.7 per cent.
The directors and staff will sell half their shares at $6.43 a share, a 70 per cent-plus premium on the current valuation of $3.75 - calculated each November by Ernst & Young.
The Clemenger Group chairman, Robert Morgan, confirmed shareholders had approved the scheme but would not say if there had been any dissenting votes and did not elaborate. However, the matter now needed court approval, he said, ''and that process is due to take place in the next week or so''.
With just under 4 million shares, Mr Morgan is Clemenger's largest local shareholder and stands to make $12.8 million from the deal. An exemption of the two-for-one offer has been made in the case of the director Peter Clemenger, 83, whose father John founded the eponymous ad agency in 1946, and who can sell all but 1000 of his 601,000 shares, netting him $3.8 million.
The vote at the extraordinary general meeting marked the passing into the hands of Americans of one of the oldest and best known names in Australian advertising. Clemenger joins the ranks of other Australian advertising names that are now controlled overseas. In 2005 the British marketing services giant WPP took full control of George Patterson & Partners and last year Harold Mitchell's family-controlled Mitchell Communication Group was sold to the British media group Aegis.
Two of the executives who orchestrated the original Clemenger BBDO deal 37 years ago, Mr Clemenger and the Omnicom chairman, Bruce Crawford, were involved in the most recent deal. Both sides have said Clemenger will continue to be master of its own destiny in the region. BBDO is using Clemenger, which owns all or part of 40 marketing companies, as a staging post to expand its business in the region.
Clemenger executives acknowledge BBDO will now have the authority to step in if it feels the business is underperforming. ''There are now very clear consequences,'' one senior Clemenger staffer said. ''They will stay at arm's length as long as things are going well.''
Clemenger was one of the few companies to have escaped the advertising and media downturn. Revenue fell 2 per cent to $282 million and net profits rose 12 per cent to $28.6 million for 2009-10.


text:
Mergers and acquisitions are supposedly all about synergy between the companies involved. It’s unusual to see it blossom between a company and an antitrust regulator, yet that’s exactly what seems to have happened in the case of the Chinese government and the Switzerland-based mining group Glencore-Xstrata.
The merger of Glencore and Xstrata created the world’s fourth-largest mining company and largest commodities trader when it was finalized last year. But as a condition of the deal, the firms had to secure the blessing of regulators in the major markets in which they operate, including China.
Before bestowing its approval, China’s Ministry of Commerce took an expansive view of its remit, insisting that the company sell its giant Las Bambas copper mine in Peru in order to gain approval for its merger. Today, after months of negotiations, the Las Bambas sale was finally sealed, and the buyer was none other than a consortium of state-owned Chinese firms led by China Minmetals, which agreed to pay at least $5.8 billion in cash for the mine. The price is at the higher end of most analysts’ estimates, who welcomed the cash windfall on Glencore Xstrata’s debt-heavy balance sheet.
The sale highlights how desperate China is to secure an uninterrupted inflow of metals and raw materials to fuel its economy. As the Financial Times noted, Minmetals was founded during the Western trade embargoes against China in the 1950s. The Las Bambas takeover is part of a resource security strategy that is designed to make sure a similar resource choke point never happens again, particularly with copper, since China consumes 40% of the world’s supply of the mineral.
Copper demand is currently in the doldrums (paywall), although Chinese imports have continued unabated since the metal is often stockpiled for use as loan collateral.
Not many developed economies would so blatantly combine their regulatory and commercial interests at home and abroad (other than France). Such are the benefits of China’s one-party system, where competition regulation and foreign trade policy are often one and the same.


text:
It was pretty much inevitable, but Blizzard announced this week that Starcraft II (Starcraft Harder) won't be landing in your Zerg-hands until next year. Kotaku explains:
Activision Blizzard's reason for the delay of StarCraft II is reportedly tied to the relaunch of its upgraded Battle.net service, which handles multiplayer for all things Blizzard. In a statement to the Blizzard community, the developer writes "Over the past couple of weeks, it has become clear that it will take longer than expected to prepare the new Battle.net for the launch of the game."
Meanwhile, riots have been reported all across South Korea. Those guys sure love their Starcraft.


text:
TOKYO -- Plunging sales hammered North American profits at Honda Motor Co. in the carmakers fiscal first quarter but werent bad enough to scuttle the companys earnings outlook.
Honda, one of the few automakers still expecting to be in the black this year, lifted its net and operating profit forecasts on the back of cost cuts and slowly improving demand.
But in the quarter ended June 30, North America was the trouble spot, as rising unemployment and tight credit markets discouraged people from visiting dealer showrooms.
Operating profit in North America tumbled 92.5 percent to 7.18 billion yen, or $74.3 million at current exchange rates, from a year earlier.
Regional sales fell 34.6 percent to $10.21 billion (975.7 billion yen).
The North American market is still a weaker than we expected, Executive Vice President Koichi Kondo said today while announcing financial results.
Local earnings were hurt partly by production cuts that boosted fixed costs, he added. Honda has slashed output in the United States to bring production in line with sagging demand.
North America is traditionally Hondas most profitable market. But Kondo said he sees full-year sales continuing their decline and lowered his outlook. Honda now expects its regional sales to fall 13.1 percent to 1.3 million vehicles in the full fiscal year ending March 31, 2010.
Three months ago, Honda was predicting North American sales of 1.35 million.
Kondo said Honda has seen an uptick in orders under the new cash-for-guzzlers incentives. But it is too soon to tell whether the federal scrapping program will have any meaningful effect, he said. Total U.S. volume is likely to be around 10.0 million units this year, Kondo added.
On a global basis, operating profit at Honda fell 88 percent to $263.7 million in the April-June quarter, against a profit of $2.20 billion a year earlier.
But the results beat a consensus estimate for a $1.11 billion loss in a survey of four analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Like most Japanese automakers, Honda is expected to see its earnings improve as production volumes return from the low levels posted in late 2008. Thats when sales plunged after the collapse of U.S. bank Lehman Brothers, squeezing the auto loans market and prompting job losses.
Still, most auto executives have yet to see a convincing recovery in demand and are trying to battle a sales decline with cost-cutting as much of the demand in developed markets is artificially supported by government programs to encourage consumption.
In the first quarter ending June 30, Honda posted net income of $79.5 million , compared with a profit of $1.81 billion a year ago.
For the financial year to March 31, 2010, Honda expects an operating profit of $732.6 million and net profit of $575.6 million . In April, it had forecast the profits at $104.7 million and $418.6 million .
The maker of the popular Accord and Fit models lifted its global car sales forecast to 3.295 million vehicles from 3.210 million, for the year to March 2010.
While Honda has fared better than many rivals in Japan and China this year, as government incentives helped sales of its smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles, investors are keen to see signs of a recovery in the United States and Europe, where its sales lag the market with sharp double-digit declines.
Its new Insight hybrid car has sold well at home, but it faces competition in the United States where Toyota Motor Corp.'s new generation Prius has been stealing the show with a roomier, bigger and more fuel-efficient alternative at a deep discount to the previous version.
Honda has deliberately held back shipment of the Insight to the United States to meet robust orders in Japan where the model is more profitable at current currency exchange rates, making it difficult to gauge latent demand in North America.
Shares in Honda have risen 44 percent in the year to date, in line with Tokyo's transport sub-index.
Reuters contributed to this report


text:
Lucid Motors has designed the battery packs in its luxury electric vehicle for two lives. The company, which is already experimenting with energy storage systems for commercial and residential customers, is also eyeing ways to repurpose batteries from its electric vehicles.
While Lucid is still years from having to contend with a large number of used batteries — its first EV, the luxury Lucid Air sedan, isn’t coming to market until the second half of 2021 — the company is already planning how to give them a second life them in a yet-to-be-launched energy storage business.
The battery-cell modules that power Lucid’s vehicles are identical to the ones that will be used for energy storage, making them well-suited for “second-life” purposes, according to the company. The company has already constructed a prototype of a 300-kilowatt hour stationary battery storage system at its engineering lab, Lucid’s Chief Engineer and Senior VP of Product Eric Bach told TechCrunch. The batteries in that system are new, but there is “no technical limitation” that would prevent Lucid from swapping them out with used batteries, Bach said. While Lucid CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson has previously discussed plans to eventually build energy storage systems like Tesla that uses new batteries, this is the first time the company has talked about second-life applications for the product.
Batteries typically retain a charging capacity of around 70% once they’re removed from EVs, which means they potentially have another decade of useful life. Automakers like General Motors, Ford Motor, and Audi AG have already initiated second-life pilot projects aimed at extracting that remaining value.
Bach explained the company will likely retrieve batteries used in Lucid EVs after they reach the end of their useful life through its dedicated service centers or when customers trade in their vehicles. Once batteries are returned to Lucid, the company would need to harvest the modules from the packs and run a quality check on them. Lucid’s vehicles have built-in sensors that provide data on each of its cars from the battery packs down to the module level, Bach said, which will come in handy when determining the health of each module. After physical testing, the modules could be ready to be placed in an outgoing product.
Storage systems do contain some additional components. In a home system, that may include a DC-to-AC inverter, a cooling system and safety switches. The actual battery will remain consistent across Lucid’s products.
Lucid hasn’t determined how it will distribute the second-life batteries between home and industrial applications.
“Personally, I feel in an industrial application, using these [second-life] modules would be more appropriate and easier because there, the key metric is really just dollars per kilowatt hour,” Bach said.
In instances where a Lucid vehicle ends up at a car dismantler, Bach suggested there may be an opportunity to incentivize the dismantler to feed the battery packs back to the company. Even if that doesn’t happen, as the price of EV battery raw materials continues to rise, dismantlers will likely make their own business of selling battery packs to companies or recyclers.
At this point – with no product yet on the market and with an expectation that it will be low- to mid-volume – Lucid has not started branching out into recycling materials itself, he said. For the moment, Lucid is leaving recycling operations to its battery cell suppliers, like South Korea-based LG Chem.
“But in the long run, I mean, we’re just at the start of our journey [. . .] and I can envision that in multiple years we will look into cell manufacturing ourselves as well as the full value chain for everything that’s needed to make the applicable energy storage devices,” Bach said. “So in the future, absolutely it makes a lot of sense as the volume goes up, you need to try to contain more of the supply chain and that goes back into a sustainable method of harvesting the raw materials.”
Bach said the company is laser-focused on the Lucid Air and the public may be a few years out from seeing a Lucid home battery system. Until then, the Lucid Air will come equipped with bidirectional charging capabilities, meaning the customer will be able to feed the power from her car into her house.
“Essentially, that is the first home battery system that we will have already,” Bach said.
It’s unclear what resources — in terms of people and capital — Lucid is putting towards an energy storage business. Such details are likely to remain scant until after the company officially becomes a publicly traded company. In March, Lucid Motors announced it had reached an agreement to become a publicly traded company through a merger with special-purpose acquisition company Churchill Capital IV Corp., in what was considered the largest deal yet between a blank-check company and an electric vehicle startup.
The combined company, in which Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund will continue to be the largest shareholder, will have a transaction equity value of $11.75 billion. Private investment in the public equity deal is priced at $15 a share, putting the implied pro-forma equity value at $24 billion.
The funding will be used to bring the Lucid Air and an SUV to market as well as to expand its factory in Arizona, Lucid CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson previously told TechCrunch. The company plans to expand the factory over another three phases in the coming years to have the capacity to produce 365,000 units per year at scale. The initial phase of the $700 million factory was completed late last year and will have the capacity to produce 30,000 vehicles a year.


text:
Software vendor Endor Labs has launched a partner program focused on generating solutions for supply chain security, dependency selection and lifecycle management.
The program, which is an opt-in model as opposed to containing tiers, offers a “full complement” of expert presales support and solution deployment, as well as joint solution development, technical expertise and sales enablement.
“Hyperdrive partners directly benefit from unlocking new services revenue streams from advising, building and running OSS [open source software] lifecycle programs,” Endor claimed.
The vendor, which launched in October last year, is targeting value-added resellers, advisory firms, solution providers and technology and integration partners in particular as part of its partner push to provide solutions that “protect entire software inventories and turbo-charge application development”.
Additionally, partners with existing application modernisation, application development, application security or DevSecOps practices are considered a plus.
However, Endor is being selective in who it accepts as a partner, according to Andrew Davidson, VP of business development and alliances at Endor Labs.
“With a 100 per cent channel go-to-market strategy and a specialised technology, we aim to invest heavily in a few strategic partners instead of small investments in several,” he said to ARN.
The program is available to partners across Asia Pacific (APAC) as well as the Americas and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).


text:
Christmas is fast approaching and with just weeks left until the big day, supermarkets across the UK are starting to prepare.
Tesco bosses have issued an urgent message to shoppers ahead of the festive season, which will be somewhat different this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Shoppers are asked to start doing their Christmas shopping in advance this year.
In a message to their customers, Tesco asked them not to overbuy supplies.
It follows the stock-piling crisis which occurred at the start of the nationwide lockdown in March which saw shelves left empty.
Tesco chief executive Jason Tarry said: "Our stock levels are good, so there’s no need to buy more of your regular groceries than normal.
"And as the festive season approaches, it’s always busier for our stores, so please consider shopping a little earlier than you usually would, to avoid the peak festive period."
Tarry also took the chance to re-emphasise the rules Tesco has put in place for shoppers.
"We understand that it won’t always be possible, but if you’re able to shop alone then please do. It’ll help make our stores safer and make everyone’s shop a bit quicker," he said.
He added that Tesco has now installed a ‘traffic light’ system in some larger stores to help manage customer numbers, reports the Mirror.
"Once in-store, please keep to the social distancing markings. If there’s a queue outside and it’s raining, we’ll be handing out sanitised umbrellas in our larger stores," Tarry said.
"Please follow the legal guidance on wearing a face covering. If you forget to bring one, you can pick up a pack at the front of the store and pay for it with your shopping later."
Keep up to date with all the latest news
Download the LancsLive app for free on iPhone here and Android here.
You can sign up for free daily updates with the LancsLive newsletter here.
To keep updated, follow LancsLive on Facebook and @LiveLancs on Twitter.
Have you got news for us? Contact our newsdesk on email@example.com.
To help vulnerable customers, the Tesco boss advised people to shop in store to keep delivery slots clear for anyone shielding.
"In-store, we’re continuing our dedicated hours for vulnerable customers, and we’re giving NHS workers priority access," he added.
"Please check store locator for your local store’s hours."


text:
e.l.f Beauty (ELF) is a name we wanted to flag for investors because the sentiment around it has been one of frustration for people who have owned the stock. However, with the stock having received some recent sell side analyst upgrades, it's becoming clear that the analyst community is slowly warming up to some changes being made at the company.
After pricing its IPO at $17 in September 2016, above the expected range of $14-16, the stock quickly traded above $30 by late 2016. However, it soon after fell into a prolonged downturn that led it to trade below $7 in early 2019, following a series of disappointing earnings results.
In September 2018, an activist hedge fund, Marathon Partners, wrote a letter to the company urging management to consider several courses of action. The first option 1) asked the company to refocus on core operations by ceasing evaluation of acquisition targets and to reduce and optimize its high-cost structure (including executive compensation) to fund brand investment, boost margins, and grow profits. In the firm's view as stated in that letter, the e.l.f. brand is burdened by all of the overhead of a platform designed to support multiple brands as well as an extremely generous compensation plan for senior executives. Alternatively, the fund encouraged the company to 2) consider a sale of the company.
So far, ELF has been telling them thanks, but no thanks. ELF does have a plan to turn the business around. Its first focus was to invest more behind the brand. ELF had been spending around 3% of sales on marketing, but that spend is getting an increase to help the brand break through in a noisy marketplace. The second pillar is ELF's plan to put greater focus on key items. For example, in late 2018, ELF put an integrated effort behind its Beauty Shield Magnetic Mask. This $24 product, said the company, is a great example of ELF's distinct union of high-quality merchandise with good value proposition; the only other thing like it in the market is a $75 prestige product.
The final pillar of the turnaround is achieving optimal retail assortment. A major 2019 initiative that should help improve productivity at retail is Project Unicorn. This is a "major product, package and shelf initiative" that, the company says, "elevates brand presentation and improves navigation," in part by eliminating or changing the outer packaging on select SKUs to better display their components and colors and thus to make them more eye-catching for shoppers. ELF has been planning this initiative since 2017.
Another change, announced in February 2019, is ELF's plan to close its 22 e.l.f. stores, which contributed 5% of sales in 2018. Following these closures, ELF will focus more on its national retailer (Target, Walmart, etc.) and digital channels. Expect ELF to report an accounting charge for these closings when it reports Q4 (Mar) results. (Note: ELF recently changed its fiscal year end to March 31 from December 31.) ELF also recently named Mandy Fields as its new CFO. She most recently served as CFO of BevMo!, a retailer of alcoholic beverages on the West Coast.
There has been a notable improvement in the sentiment of the sell side analyst community. Over just the past three weeks, we count three analyst upgrades. DA Davidson upgraded the stock this morning while Jefferies and JP Morgan upgraded the stock in early April. Many analysts have been negative on ELF, but it seems like the tide is turning.


text:
Deep Silver and Ys Net announce publishing partnership for Shenmue III, and reveal new art.
The announcement comes as something of a surprise, with many fans of the series naturally expecting Sega – who still hold the Shenmue IP – to be involved in some capacity. The publishing deal includes both the digital and physical releases of Shenmue III, which is now due for release on PlayStation 4 and PC next year. (Anyone care to make a bet on that?)
Dr. Klemens Kundratitz, CEO of Koch Media/Deep Silver, said in a press statement:
“Shenmue is one of a few game franchises that have historical value whilst continuing to ignite passion across gamers. We are delighted to have signed this publishing partnership and look forward to utilizing our global publishing network to maximize the potential of this highly anticipated game.”
Legendary game designer, and director of Shenmue III, Yu Suzuki, added:
“I am very pleased to secure this global partnership with Deep Silver, which is comprised of incredible men and women who have a deep passion for bringing Japanese titles to the rest of the world. Throughout this process, Deep Silver has expressed a deep passion for Japanese games, the Shenmue franchise and its fans—this gives me further confidence in Shenmue III and that we have found the best partner possible.”
Accompanying the news are two pieces of newly released art.
If you’re excited about the game, and attending Gamescom next week, you’ll have the chance to meet Yu Suzuki himself. He will be attending two Meet & Greet events on Wednesday August 23rd between 6:30pm and 7:00 pm, and on Thursday August 24th between 12:30pm and 1:30 pm. Head over to the Deep Silver stand in Hall 9.1 B011 / C010. We’d recommend getting there well in advance of the listed times.


text:
The PlayStation DualSense controller and PlayStation 5 console.
Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images
on Thursday reported a 29% drop in operating profit in the fiscal second quarter as the Japanese electronics giant suffered from weakness in its imaging sensor — or chip — business.
Here’s how Sony did in the September quarter versus LSEG consensus estimates:
- Revenue: 2.8 trillion yen ($18.5 billion) versus 2.87 trillion yen expected. That represents an 8% increase year-over-year.
- Operating profit: 263 billion Japanese yen versus 304.4 billion yen expected. That marks a 29% drop year-over-year.
Sony attributed the significant drop in profit to weakness in its imaging sensor business, as well as declines in profit at its financial services and entertainment, technology and services businesses.
The company said profit in its chip division fell over 28% in the fiscal second quarter.
Sony supplies camera chips to consumer technology manufacturing giants like , which uses its semiconductors in its iPhones.
Sales forecast hiked
Despite the slide in profit, the company increased its sales forecast for the full year, saying it now expects total sales of 12.4 trillion yen (up from earlier forecasts of 12.2 trillion yen) as it benefits from positive foreign exchange rates.
The Japanese has weakened significantly versus the dollar, and Sony makes most of its income outside of the U.S.
Sony also attributed to improvement to its revenue forecast to anticipated bumper performance in its video game, music and imaging and sensing solutions businesses.
Sony is expecting its game and network services business, which is responsible for its popular PlayStation console, games studios and gaming networks, to receive higher-than-expected sales in the full year, boosting performance.
The company has seen a strong start to its newly released Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 game, which is exclusive to PS5. The game sold more than 2.5 million copies in its first 24 hours, making it the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game in history for a 24-hour period.
Sony said it sold 4.9 million PlayStation 5 units in the fiscal second quarter, up from 3.3 million units sold in the fiscal first quarter.
PS5 to sell 25 million units
The company said on its earnings call that it expects its PlayStation 5 console to hit its target of 25 million units shipped in 2023. That’s an important milestone as analysts and investors were watching for signs of Sony’s PS5 performance closely.
Sony’s results come after Nintendo earlier this week reported better-than-expected sales and profit for its fiscal second quarter on Tuesday, as it got a boost from the “Super Mario Bros. Movie” and highly anticipated May release of the “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” game.
In a interview, Sony’s Eric Lempel said this would mark the first year that PS5 is “fully stocked” after shortages that plagued the company in 2020 and 2021 due to supply chain constraints.
“We launched [PS5] back in 2020,” Lempel told CNBC. “We suffered from the same supply chain issues that everybody was dealing with. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to deliver PS5 to ever consumer that wanted one.”
Thursday’s results follow a fiscal first quarter which saw Sony report a 33% rise in revenue year-over-year to 3 trillion Japanese yen but a 31% year-on-year drop in profit to 253 billion yen.
The company at the time cited weakness in its financial services and pictures division, which saw a small slump on the back of strikes carried out by the Writers Guild of America and other unions, in protest against using artificial intelligence to generate movie scripts.
Sony said that it expects the strike to have an impact on its next financial year, but the firm is engaging in cost control measures to minimize it.


text:
This article is part of our special report Sustainable and healthy food.
SPECIAL REPORT / To tackle pollution and climate change, policy-makers, NGOs and industry alike support more vegetables in Europeans' diets, while insisting on better use of resources and waste-management.
Vegetable-based foods such as potatoes, pulses and soy have been shown to have a lower carbon footprint than animal products, which account for about 33% of total greenhouse gas emissions for the food sector, according to a report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization from September.
Although, vegetables still account for 24% of global greenhouse gas emissions they are considered more resource efficient in terms of water and land use, the report says.
According to Bernard Deryckere, president of the European Natural Soyfood Manufacturers association (ENSA), an obvious solution to the unsustainability of Europe’s food systems is “to rebalance our consumption of animal-based products with more resource efficient foods that contain similar protein levels”.
“Our view is that soy and plant-based foods can provide an answer as they consistently out-perform animal products when comparing their environmental impact in terms of CO2 emissions, land and water use,” he said.
According to the FAO study, pulses, such as peas and beans, are efficient sources of protein when compared with animal sources, because they require fewer inputs per kilogramme produced.
However, the picture becomes more complex when figures of food waste are taken into account. The authors of the FAO report combined the two figures, for greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint through wastage, to come up with a single “carbon intensity” rating.
According to FAO report, meat products constitute just 15% of global food wastage, whereas some 21% of vegetable and cereal food is wasted along the food chain, whether in fields, processing facilities, supermarkets or homes.
The Eurostat resource efficiency scorecard published today (6 December) attempts to break down the figures to show Europeans’ use of resources per sector. In the scorecard, Eurostat used FAO data to come up with a “calorie supply” rating for European foods.
Vegetal products, such as cereals, vegetables and legumes, accounted for 2,600 of the total calories supplied, compared with 1,100 for animal products, suggesting that they may be having a larger impact on the planet.
However, vegetal products, cereals in particular, form a larger part of the human diet than meats on average, adding to the complexity of the figures. When health effects and other indicators are taken into account, the data may indicate that vegetal products should occupy a larger proportion of the calorie share.
"Soy products are just such a product, an excellent protein source which can be produced with a low environmental footprint," said Janez Poto?nik, the European commissioner for the environment, said in a video message at a conference, organised by ENSA on Wednesday.
However, commissioner Poto?nik said that, in general, industry would "have to think longer-term and work together to safeguard their basic resources and reduce the impacts of their operations".
Tackling food waste has ‘most obvious benefits’
While many policymakers agree that Europe needs to tackle the over-consumption of food, in particular meat, another figure from the Eurostat report, the total calorie supply for each person, may indicate a more pressing problem.
The data reveals that in 2009 the total supply of food for Europeans was equal to a daily 3,700 calories per person, some 20% more than the recommended consumption level. This figure, which showed the amount of food available, differentiates from the average consumption level.
According to the FAO report, the world wastes about 1.3 billion tonnes of edible food each year, roughly one third of the amount that it produces. Poto?nik said that the statistics made food waste the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, after China and the United States.
“When you consider that there are 870 million people going hungry every day, these figures are more astonishing,” he added.
Poto?nik’s directorate is trying to take a pragmatic approach in improving the sustainability of Europe’s food systems, by focusing on food waste, a key component of the Commission’s roadmap to a resource efficient Europe.
The EU has set itself a target of halving the amount of edible food waste by 2020, and the almost complete elimination of landfilling.
“Food waste has the most obvious benefits for resource efficiency. It’s normal that policymakers focus on the things where you get the most results first,” Werner Bosmans, one of the authors of the roadmap and the official responsible for EU natural resource policies, said at the ENSA conference.


text:
The hydrogen fuel cell drive is back on everyone’s lips. Numerous manufacturers are currently presenting vehicles with this technology. Hyundai and Iveco have presented a hydrogen transporter that is supposed to represent “the future potential”.
In the automotive sector, the fuel cell is no longer a big issue – the situation is different in payload traffic. At the commercial vehicle trade fair IAA Transportation in Hanover, various manufacturers are currently showing new vehicles with alternative drives. The Korean carmaker Hyundai and the manufacturer Iveco on Monday presented a prototype of their first transporter with hydrogen fuel cell technology, the Iveco eDaily FCEV, with a payload of three tons.
The vehicle is equipped with a 90 kW hydrogen fuel cell system and a 140 kW electric motor. According to the manufacturer, six tanks have a storage capacity of 12 kilograms of hydrogen and can be filled up within 15 minutes. The transporter is said to have a maximum range of 350 kilometers, which was confirmed in a test run in Europe. The technology has covered more than 4.5 million kilometers in heavy trucks in Switzerland.
Hyundai and Iveco present vans as “the ideal option for deliveries”.
The hydrogen transporter is the “ideal option for deliveries” over long distances and high payloads, according to a press release. The new model is said to “represent the future potential of Iveco’s best-selling and longest-running large van.” In addition to conventional models, its product range also includes methane/biomethane drives and electric drives. In addition to the hydrogen transporter, the two companies also presented the eDaily BEV at the IAA Transportation, a transporter with an electric drive, which is best suited for regional use.
Marco Liccardo, Chief Technology and Digital Officer at Iveco Group, spoke of a “significant milestone” and announced that he intended to launch a small series of hydrogen transporters by the end of next year. “[…] The hydrogen-powered eDaily [ist] another concrete example of what we can achieve by working together to accelerate the transition to locally zero-emission transport. The partnership between the two companies has proven to be very successful and we expect even more far-reaching results in the coming years,” said Martin Zeilinger, Head of Commercial Vehicle Development Tech Unit at Hyundai Motor Company.
In 2020, Hyundai launched its first hydrogen truck, the Xcient Fuel Cell. Last August, the Korean manufacturer announced the delivery of the first vehicles to German customers. Seven companies should therefore include the hydrogen truck in their fleet.
Hyundai and Iveco signed a memorandum of understanding in the spring. From this point of view, the two manufacturers have set up “several joint working groups for different technological areas”. Both companies want to investigate “how they can complement each other in the development of electric vehicles and alternative drives.” As a result, they announced the production of hydrogen buses in early July. The built-in fuel cell technology comes from Hyundai.
Manufacturers are increasingly developing hydrogen commercial vehicles
Iveco also develops trucks with alternative drive technology in cooperation with the US manufacturer Nikola Motor at the joint plant in Ulm. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding in September 2021. Nikola President Michael Lohscheller spoke to him a few days ago star about the truck manufacturer’s ambitious plans.
Other manufacturers have also made it their task to develop commercial vehicles with hydrogen fuel cell technology. The automotive supplier Bosch announced last week that it had converted two all-electric vans into hydrogen vehicles. To do this, the batteries were replaced by fuel cells and hydrogen storage tanks. The two vehicles are in test operation on the road. The company is showing the test vehicles at the IAA Transportation.
Opel has been producing the Vivaro-e, a small electric van with hydrogen fuel cell technology, since the end of 2021. The panel van has a range of over 400 kilometers. Peugeot and Citroen, which – like Opel – both belong to Stellantis, use the same technology with the e-Expert and e-Jumpy. The group builds the fuel cells in cooperation with the tire manufacturer Michelin and the supplier Faurecia. Renault also intends to launch a panel van with hydrogen fuel cell technology next year with the Master.
The vehicle manufacturer MAN, on the other hand, is even more cautious when it comes to the series production of fuel cell trucks in large numbers. Alexander Vlaskamp, head of the company, said that the focus will initially be on the production of electric trucks.
Sources: Hyundai, , , with material from the dpa


text:
China has seen 77.11 million smartphones sold in the second quarter of 2013, about 85.3 percent of the country's total mobiles sales volume, a major technology industry analyst said Wednesday.
In last quarter, total mobile sales volume in China was about 90.39 million units, a 0.2 percent quarter-to-quarter decrease but a 36 percent year-on-year increase, said a report released by Analysys International.
In the smartphone sector, the Samsung, Lenovo and Coolpad are the top three brands. Their market shares were 18.2, 11.1 and 9.8 percent respectively.
The first and second quarter are usually the off seasons for China's mobile phone market with comparatively few promotions.
iPhone sales in the second quarter also fell about 30 percent from the first quarter.


text:
Fill in your E-mail and we will send you a one time password, you can use to login with. Once logged in, you can change your password if you wish. Please note: The temporary code will only be active for 15 min.
Sorry, we could not find your E-mail in our database
Enter one time password
We have send you an email with a one time password
Sorry, the entered one time password is either incorrect or has expired
Week 8 most important news, that have affected the metal prices
Todays commodity prices
3 months LME USD 1.705 / EUR 1.560
3 months CLME USD 5.765 / EUR 5.290
A new week where the outbreak of the coronavirus has been in focus. Earlier this last week there where news out regarding finding a cure for the virus, but this was later dismissed. This meant that the LME prices briefly went higher, but the commodity prices feel back again as the news were dismissed.
We are now starting seeing more problems with the closed down of Chinese production, Apple have announce that they expect low sales 1. Quarter of 2020, due to the coronavirus and Hyundai has stopped part of their production in Korea due to missing parts from China.
Several Asian economies have started to stimulate their economies as they fear that the coronavirus will affect the economic growth. This helps keeping the commodity prices at the current levels. The economic expectations for Europe (PMI, ZEW etc.), especially Germany, have come out poorly. For now this is overshadowed by the coronavirus, but it might affect the commodity prices later on.
Factors that makes the price higher
Announcement of public stimulus in China.
Trade agreements between China and USA.
Factors that makes the price lower
The coronavirus in China.
Low economic growth from China, US and Europe.
The trade war between China and USA. There is a possibility that there will not be an agreement before the summer 2020.


text:
Heating Oil News – Heating Oil Price Analysis
The oil prices on the international commodity futures markets moved sideways yesterday with relatively large fluctuations, but are tending to weaken again this morning, so that the medium-term downward trend can continue, at least for the time being. As a result, the heating oil prices in Europ will start the last trading day of the week with a nice discount. A lot of Oil traders use trading robots like Oil Profit to help them make profits in the current oil market.
The November contracts for European North Sea oil “Brent” are currently at 88.40 US dollars per barrel, a barrel of US oil “West Texas Intermediate” costs 81.40 dollars per hour. The euro is able to recover strongly against the US dollar and is trading at around 98.20 dollar cents this morning.
The US economy is headed for recession. In the first quarter there was a minus of 1.6 percent, in the second of 0.6 percent. Bad economic indicators are also coming from China this morning. Here, growth in the second quarter fell to a measly 0.4 percent by Chinese standards. The target of plus 5.5 percent set for this year will be missed by a wide margin, which is certainly largely due to the corona restrictions that still exist. The HSBC purchasing managers’ index from the manufacturing sector fell to 48.1 percent as of September, which suggests that economic output will shrink. In Europe, the economic situation is even grimmer due to extremely high energy costs. EU business and consumer sentiment fell further from 97.3 to 93.7 in September.
This is currently depressing the mood of stockbrokers again, who traded the share prices down yesterday.
In this context, crude oil prices were able to hold up surprisingly well, which is partly due to the strike by French refinery workers. Around 60 percent of the capacities here are currently paralyzed, which is further exacerbating the already tight supply situation in Europe. The expected production cuts by OPEC+, new sanctions against Iran and a new sanctions package against Russia that is likely to come soon are also having a supportive effect.
On the currency market, the euro continued to gain ground against the US dollar yesterday. A German consumer price index that rose to 10 percent yesterday gave a foretaste of the inflation data from the EU that are due to be published today. Another soon and strong rate hike by the ECB seems to be inevitable. Good labor market data from the US did not help the US dollar yesterday.
So the best conditions for the German domestic market, where the heating oil prices will start the day with a nice discount. Current calculations and initial price trends suggest a drop of around two to three cents per liter in the morning. The freight rates for inland shipping are also falling again, so that there is at least a slight relaxation in transport costs. The extremely high demand remains the main problem for retailers in this country, because capacities are completely overloaded and delivery times of several weeks are the order of the day.


text:
ECMOHO Limited, an integrated solutions provider in the health and wellness market in China, has announced plan to increase digital marketing effort to drive future growth.
Recently, it has entered into a cooperation agreement with US-based Vitamin World, pursuant to which ECMOHO will be responsible for the marketing and sales of Vitamin World products on China’s top e-commerce websites, JD platform and Tmall. ECMOHO will cater to the health needs of consumers in China by providing Vitamin World’s premium vitamins, nutritional supplements and herbs at a great value.
Vitamin World has won the ‘USA Consumer Satisfaction Award’ six times and received a superior 90% recommendation rate from customers, according to leading global market research firm Ipsos.
Zoe Wang, CEO of ECMOHO said, “As a leading online retail service provider in the field of healthcare and medical equipment in China, ECMOHO has been deeply involved in healthcare, medical equipment and other health-related industries since its establishment. We collaborate with Vitamin World to reaffirm our commitment to expand healthcare product offerings. Looking forward, we will continue to refine supply chain, operation, consumer insights analysis to introduce premium products and bring integrated health benefit solutions to satisfy households’ demand.”


text:
People who run an online business could be suffering from significant amounts of stress without realising it. A new study of stressful occupations has some surprising results, but most people running an online business combine four of the top 10 stressful jobs into one single occupation. Running your own online business could well be a recipe for personal disaster – unless you take care.
According to the research, the most stressful job in the world is being a soldier. That makes sense – how well would you cope with the knowledge that as you walk down the road in Afghanistan you could be blown to bits? The constant threat of death whilst you go about your job cannot be an easy thing to work with. The research found that the least stressful jobs in the world were largely those involved in healthcare. When you talk to doctors, nurses and other health specialists they often complain of job related stress – but this could well be balanced out by the fact that they are doing what they love, caring for others. The rewards of that care reduce the impact of the stress.
However, online business folk appear to be in a rather stressful situation. Four of the most stressful jobs in the world are corporate executive, public relations executive, event co-ordinator and photojournalist. All of these roles are combined into one for the many people who run their own online company. These individuals are the boss, the person responsible for promoting the company, the one who organises the firm’s events and the blogger..! Is it any wonder that with more and more people running their own online business – even part time – that doctors are reporting ever higher incidences of stress-related illnesses?
So, if you run an online business, how can you spot whether or not stress is affecting you? Here are the sure-fire signs you are stressed:
- Apathy and general lack of interest
- Reduced social activity
At first sight these seem pretty benign. But someone who is not stressed tends to want to work, they enjoy being with colleagues, they are not really aware of the time passing by because they are enjoying themselves and they get a good night’s sleep. And do not believe those people who tell you that “some stress is good for you”. That is just nonsense. Research consistently shows that stress LOWERS performance. In other words, online business owners who are stressed out by working on the web are actually able to perform less well in business than they think.
Studies also show that people often think they are less stressed than is the case. People tend to underestimate the stress they are under and to mistake the symptoms for things which are “normal”. This means that many people running online businesses could be under much more stress than they think.
Stress is damaging; it leads to rises in hormones which if present in consistently high amounts can be physically harmful. Stress leads to heart disease, digestive problems and has even been implicated in reducing our ability to cope with cancer. It is therefore vital that if you run an online business you recognise the stress symptoms you may be suffering and take steps to reduce the impact of your online work. Ultimately that means planning your day better, not responding to every email, Tweet or Facebook discussion and taking yourself away from the computer – and your smartphone – for several hours.
- Stressed Out Working at Home? Here are some Survival Tips (noobpreneur.com)
- Stress Changes How People Make Decisions (socialpsychology.org)
- Business insurance news: Stress the biggest safety concern for workers (premierlinedirect.co.uk)


text:
Here in New York City, a coalition of union leaders and workers led a protest Thursday outside the $40 million penthouse of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, denouncing the corporation’s ongoing retaliation and firing of workers fighting to unionize. Among the speakers at the rally were Charles Jenkins, president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and Larry Holmes of the Workers Assembly Against Racism.
Charles Jenkins: “We demand the right for not some workers to be unionized like me, but we demand all workers — all workers — have a right to unionize.”
Larry Holmes: “All of your union busting, the Starbucks workers are just getting angrier, just organizing more stores. And if you keep your union busting up, all you’re going to do is wake up a sleeping giant: the working class in this country.”
Despite an aggressive union-busting campaign from Starbucks, thousands of workers at some 220 shops have filed for union elections, including a Starbucks at Mall of America. A total of 22 Starbucks stores have successfully unionized across the country.


text:
Microsoft has undertaken the final few steps in order to fully retire the now defunct web browser Internet Explorer (IE), reaching the last stages of its phased termination.
As of August 2021, Microsoft has withdrawn Internet Explorer support for every Microsoft 365 app, thus bringing the sunsetting process to an end.
The Internet Explorer retirement roadmap that was released in August last year, consisted of numerous stages that indicated that support for the browser would gradually decrease from the wide range of Microsoft services.
While there are certain Microsoft 365 apps that may still utilise the browser and function through it, users should expect a significantly diminished and limited experience.
The updated roadmap states that “Support is now unavailable for Microsoft 365 apps and services on IE11”.
“Additionally, you should expect no new features when accessing Microsoft 365 apps and services on IE11 and that the daily usage experience for users could get progressively worse over time until the apps and services are disconnected.”
Internet Explorer dominated the early stages of web browsers ever since its launch in 1995, but in recent years it was often ridiculed for having speed issues as well as a very awkward user interface.
The browser’s market share dropped massively over the years, going from its peak of 95% to just a handful of percentage points, with newer and more efficient alternatives emerging such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.
As a result, Microsoft have become fully invested in their newer web browser, Edge, which was revitalised in 2020 by using the Chromium source code, the same rendering engine as Google Chrome but also containing enhancements that were developed by Microsoft.
“Customers have been using IE11 since 2013 when the online environment was much less sophisticated than the landscape today,” Microsoft wrote when they initially announced the Internet Explorer retirement roadmap.
“Since then, open web standards and newer browsers – like the new Microsoft Edge – have enabled better, more innovative online experiences”.
Internet Explorer 11 will continue to be supported by Microsoft for the lifecycle of the Windows version on which the browser is installed until June 15 2022.
Whether you used it as your main web browser, or simply to download other browsers, it is still one of the most iconic software ever released by Microsoft.


text:
Users will be forced to check their computers for Year 2000 compliance if a proposed new Bill gets the green light from parliament.
The government was due to vote on the far-reaching Bill as PC Week went to press.
The Companies (Millennium Computer Compliance) Bill is being tabled by David Atkinson, Conservative MP for Bournemouth East. Atkinson warned that parliament has no choice but to legislate now if UK business is to avoid widespread problems.
The Bill, an amendment to the Companies Act 1985, proposes that every company assesses the capacity of all their computer systems for Year 2000 compliance at the end of each financial year. Companies would then have to publish this information in their end-of-year financial reports.
Computer systems covered by the Bill include all types of hardware, not just mainframes. Systems must be programmed to recognise and accurately deal with calendar dates later than 31 December 1999. Semiconductor chips will also have to comply.
In terms of PCs this will affect the BIOS ROM software, which reads the time and date from the clock chip. Even as late as last year, PC manufacturers were still shipping machines that were not Year 2000 compliant because their BIOS' worked on a two-digit year code.
The Millennium issue is already gaining momentum in corporate UK. A survey of 100 IT directors from Times 1,000 sites, conducted by Business Link London City Partners, found that 58% of IT managers plan to achieve Year 2000 compliance by December 1998.
- See Leader page 22.
Resetting the telemetry circuits and associated boards brought the instrument back to operations mode
Fortnite news and updates: Flaw in Fortnite authentication could have helped attackers steal player login credentials
Attackers could have used Fortnite security flaw to buy in-game currency on players' stored credit cards
New photos show cotton seeds sprouting in sealed container - with other plants expected to sprout within days
Sudden increases in availability of sniper rifles on Vikendi


text:
The Reserve Bank of Australia has warned that Europe’s worsening debt crisis is destabilising financial markets and could pose a risk to the global economic recovery.
Weaker global economic growth and concerns about the stability of the European financial system could see the Reserve Bank wait until well into 2011 before it decides to raise interest rates again.
In a speech in Perth yesterday, Reserve Bank Deputy Governor
The Reserve Bank’s fresh concerns about the impact of European sovereign debt woes contrasts with the views it expressed in its last policy statement on November 2, when the central bank said turmoil in financial markets “continued to abate".
Mr Battellino said government debt problems were probably at their “most acute" in Europe, while Greece and Ireland were experiencing “very deep recessions."
“The facility set up by European governments in May this year to provide financing to smaller European countries seemed for a time to lessen market concerns about sovereign debt levels," he said. “However, the situation has deteriorated noticeably again in recent weeks, as markets again question the capacity of some countries to sustain their current debt levels."
Mr Battellino’s comments preceded high-level meetings in Dublin yesterday involving European Union and International Monetary Fund officials, as policy makers worked to prevent concerns about Ireland’s banking system from spreading across Europe.
Mr Battellino said most forecasters were predicting growth in the global economy over the next few years would be slower than in 2010, when world output would probably expand by about 4.75 per cent.
“There are, of course, risks to these outcomes," Mr Battellino said.
“In the developed economies, the concerns are mainly about downside risks," he said. “What is worrying people is that the capacity of the authorities in most developed economies to deal with any renewed economic slowdown would be limited, due to the fact that policy settings are already at extremes."
“With the economy now having grown more or less without interruption for about 20 years, it is understandable that spare capacity is limited," Mr Battellino said. “This means that the economy cannot grow much above its potential rate without causing a rise in inflation.
“With a large amount of money continuing to flow into the country over the next couple of years as a result of the resources boom, the challenge will be to manage the economy in a way that keeps economic growth on a sustainable path, with inflation contained.
“This is what the bank is trying to do," he said.
Mr Battelino said employment had grown strongly over the past year and the unemployment rate had fallen back to a range of 5 per cent to 5.5 per cent, “which historically has indicated a degree of tightness in the labour market". But, he said: “Other indicators . . . suggest that the overall labour market may not be as tight as suggested by the unemployment rate."
He said the world economy is quite divided at present. “The US, Europe and Japan are struggling to recover from the effects of the financial crisis, while emerging Asian economies, and to a lesser extent Latin America, are growing strongly."
Mr Battelino also noted a change in household saving habits.
“Consumer spending has grown by a little below trend over the past year. It seems that even though consumer confidence is high, consumers remain cautious in their spending.
“The household saving ratio has picked up noticeably from the low levels it fell to earlier this decade," he said. “As we have said before, a period of consolidation by Australian households, after 10 to 15 years of fairly robust increases in spending and gearing, is probably no bad thing."
The Australian Financial Review


text:
Mothercare shares ends day still down 30 percent - haven't recovered from early slump this morning
Shares in Mothercare fell by 30% today after the chain fell victim to fierce Christmas price wars.
Shares in the babycare products chain sank 126p to 294p after confidence in its turnaround plan was hit by today's profits warning.
Mothercare blamed a 9.9% plunge in UK sales on the "highly promotional" nature of the Christmas period and lower footfall.
Sainsbury's enjoyed its busiest trading week ever in the run-up to Christmas, helping like-for-like sales in its latest quarter climb by 0.2%.
Chief executive Justin King said the 14 weeks to January 4 had been a "very tough sales environment" but the supermarket managed to maintain its record of growth - after it was forecast to fall after 35 successive periods of expansion.
Mr King said the seven days prior to Christmas was the group's busiest ever trading week, with more than 28 million transactions.
Waitrose said the strong trading period was driven by growth in online groceries sales, which rose by more than a third in the five weeks to Christmas Eve compared with the same period in 2012.
It said that 619,000 people used their click and collect service in the same five-week period.
Waitrose says it has seen its most successful Christmas on record after sales for the twelve trading days up to December 31 were up 6.5% on last year.
Total sales for the five weeks up to Christmas Eve was 5.4% above the same period in 2012.
It said it also recorded its most successful single day of trading ever after taking £51m on Monday December 23.
Most Britons believe shopping in the January sales is not worthwhile because discounts are available all year, an ITV News poll has found.
According to the ITV News Index carried out by ComRes, seven in ten (71%) agreed that the concept of the January sales seems redundant, while more than half (52%) said the hassle of the sales was not worth the savings made.
Despite this, 61% of respondents agreed that it is possible to find genuine bargains in January.
John Lewis has reported buoyant trading over Christmas with like-for-like sales climbing 6.9 percent over the five weeks to December 28.
House of Fraser also performed well in the festive period, hailing its best ever Christmas with comparable store sales up 7.3 percent.
The finance director of Debenhams has quit days after the retail company issued a massive profit warning.
The company, which lowered its profit outlook after the hoped-for surge in last-minute Christmas shopping failed to materialise, said Simon Herrick had left with immediate effect.
Fears of a slump in the holiday season proved to be unfounded as Boxing Day sales gave a boost to British retailers, The Telegraph reported.
According to the newspaper, shoppers spent over £2.7 billion in stores and online retailers all over the UK.
Analysts have forecasted that shoppers would most likely spend £2.97 billion by Friday both in brick-and-mortar stores and online.
If the prediction comes true, the total will beat last year's figure of £2.8 billion, the report said citing data from the British Retail Consortium and the Centre for Retail Research.


text:
Although alcohol contains calories, they do not mention the nutritional facts. The reason behind this is that the FDA regulates the safety of food, even non-alcoholic beverages, but does not govern the alcohol industry. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) regulates the alcohol industry, which does not mandate labeling.
According to a new study from Ohio State University, fathers who tend to follow a healthy lifestyle could play a great role in their children’s health. The researchers of the study also found that men doing moderate exercises a month before conception could help their children to lower the risk of obesity and diabetes.
Considering the findings of three preliminary studies, researchers offer clues to why people often struggle to stop eating processed foods. People who ate minimally processed foods are found to secrete more of a hormone that suppresses appetite and less of a hormone that increased appetite.
According to a new study, replacing carbon-rich beef with carbon-low chicken will reduce your dietary carbon footprint, which is the emission of carbon dioxide that is induced by your activities, including the production of food. Generally, animal-based foods have a bigger carbon footprint than plant-based foods.
Study says the term world-drinking is nothing but the global intake of major beverages. Researchers said that there has been a significant difference in the beverages consumed in different demographic groups across 185 countries. The study has been presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition.


text:
Justwhen you thought MEATliquor burgers couldn’t get any better they rope in the big dogs to create two new burgers. Oh yes, Bone Daddies’ Ross Shonhan and José Pizarro have both created two burgers to be sold in MEATliquor, MEATmarket and MEATmission from now until 24th December.
Ross Shonhan’s creation is available now until 23rd November, labelled the Super Fatty Patty. That’s a bone marrow-infused beef patty with lemon ponzu, topped with chilli mayo, chizu, a fried egg, mizuna leaves, yakiniku sauce and pickled red onions.
José Pizarro has created the Iberiburger, made from Iberico pork and Manchego cheese, available from 24th November – 24th December.
Looks like Winter might not be that bleak after all!


text:
Letv, now LeEco unveiled its new logo and re-branded itself. The new logo consists of the letters “L” and “E”, conveying the quintessence of the Le Eco world with its simple and elegant design. In addition to the Le Ecosystem logo, LeEco also introduced the logos of its seven sub-ecosystems. The word “TV” has been eliminated from all sub-ecosystem logos, showing that LeEco has fully grown from a video website in 2004 into a full-featured “eco world” integrating Platform, Content, Device and Application.
On this ocassion, LeEco officially launched the new 65-inch Super TV X65, which breaches the RMB 5,000 price threshold of mainstream 65-inch 4K smart TVs. In addition to a giant 65-inch 4K UHD panel, the Super TV X65 features 4K smart TV Mstar 6A928 SoC, quad-core 1.4GHz processor, a flagship quad-core Mali T760 GPU, 3GB RAM and 16GB flash, and supports 60fps H.265/HEVC 4K hardware decoding. The Super TV X65 which combines “ultimate technology, comprehensive ecosystem and disruptive price” is set to raise a new wave of large-screen TV popularization.
LeEco announced that the Super TV X65 will be officially available for purchase on Lemall.com for RMB 4,999 on January 19, in addition to a package offer including an additional wireless speaker (standard price: RMB 1,499) for RMB 5,999. Moreover, the LeEco Super TV Spring Festival Shopping Carnival is slated to take place across all channels on January 17 and 18.
LeEco aims at six million units in Super TV sales in 2016, eyeing the top three or even No. 1 position in the smart TV industry.
LeEco will be making its grand entry into the Indian market on January 20, 2016. Get a peek into Le ecosystem of products on in.LeMall.com.


text:
The new Mamaearth store is located at R-City Mall, Ghatkopar, Mumbai
Bengaluru: Beauty and personal care brand Mamaearth celebrated the opening of its 100th exclusive brand outlet (EBO) in Mumbai the company said in a press release on Wednesday. The store, situated at R-City Mall in Ghatkopar, Mumbai, was inaugurated by founders Ghazal and Varun Alagh along with influencers Nikhil Sharma and Shanice Shrestha Sharma.
“Venturing into exclusive brand outlets has been an extension of our quest towards building omnichannel presence of the brand. We take immense pride in our team’s achievement of reaching the remarkable century mark for Mamaearth in record time. We are truly grateful to our customers who have showered so much love upon us, which has fueled this growth,” Varun Alagh, chief executive officer of Honasa Consumer Ltd.
Over the past year, Mamaearth has experienced a retail store count growth with a diversification of its product range to encompass over 250 stock keeping units (SKU) collections.
Headquartered in Gurugram and parented by Honasa Consumer Pvt. Ltd., Mamaearth was founded in 2016. The company started as a toxin-free brand for baby care but soon ventured into face care, skincare and body care products for adults.
The digital-first brand opened its first exclusive offline outlet in 2021. Since then, Mamaearth has created a product portfolio of over 200 products and has reached over 5 million customers in 500 Indian cities servicing over 18000 pin codes.
Its products are available on official website www.mamaearth.in and other e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Nykaa, Flipkart and over 40 thousand points of sales across the country.
Honasa Consumer Pvt. Ltd. is a personal care house of brands and apart from Mamaearth its portfolio features skincare brands such as The Derma Co, Aqualogica, Ayuga, Dr. Sheth’s and haircare brand BBlunt.


text:
On 3 March 2017, the price of a bitcoin surpassed the market value of an ounce of gold for the first time as its price surged to an all-time high.The more transactions you think can be done in bitcoins, the higher their price.Bitcoins have the ability to act as a new currency and a store of value.
IRS Now Has a Tool to Unmask Bitcoin Tax Cheats
The value of bitcoin dropped on various exchanges between 11 and 20.
CryptoCurrency Market CapitalizationsThe new all-time high is close to what it costs to buy an ounce of gold.The easiest place to buy, use, and accept bitcoin, ethereum, and litecoin.Register now to start gifting bitcoins to your loved ones and have.One old BTC represented the total present and future economic power of the bitcoin network, and now that that.
What is Bitcoin? - CNNMoneyNOW READING: Op Ed: The Value of Sidechains and Leveraging Their Potential. adding value and functionality to the Bitcoin network.
12 questions about Bitcoin you were too embarrassed to askBTC exchanges have grown to such an extent that China now only represents.A unit of the digital cryptocurrency Bitcoin has exceeded the value of an ounce of gold for the first time.
What is Bitcoin and How Can I Get Some? - The Next Web
Simply WOW: $10,000 Bitcoin Investment in 2010 Now WorthExplore bitcoin charts and graphs, including the market price, the number of bitcoins in circulation, mining information and more.You have to get used to it or you will always panic just like what is happening now.Bitcoin is an innovative payment network and a new kind of money.
Why Is Bitcoin's Value So Volatile? | InvestopediaBitcoin has received a lot of attention over the past few weeks in.
Bitcoin value tops gold for first time - BBC NewsI say multibillion-dollar question because Bitcoin is now the.
Bitcoin Exchange Had Too Many Bitcoins - BloombergGet started with Bitcoin: find a wallet, buy bitcoin, shop with bitcoin, read bitcoin news, and get involved on the forum.
Bitcoin sees nearly $4 billion wiped off value after 19%
You can now use Bitcoins to purchase all of your favorite products.Right now, bitcoin cash is worth a fair bit, at least on paper.Thats a tough question, the value of Bitcoin will be determined by regulation and some other factors which are ultimately controlled by government. Now, it also.
So You Want to Invest in Bitcoin: Here's What You Should
People who thought that bitcoins could serve as either an investment vehicle or an alternative world currency got their heads handed to them on Thursday and Friday.That feels like ancient history now that the price of one bitcoin has.Seven years ago, the value of a single bitcoin was worth a quarter-of-a-cent.
Bitcoin Whiteboard Tuesday - What is Bitcoin Mining?
Wait, the price of Bitcoin is how much? - mashable.comBitcoin jumped to a new high Friday, a day after soaring past the price of an ounce of gold for the first time.But Bitcoin certainly has value of. people are now buying Bitcoin because.If you were a Greek or a Spaniard using bitcoins to move money out of your home country without having to worry too much about your local foreign exchange or banking rules, and you figured on Thursday that you could get around to transferring your asset back out of bitcoins and into dollars or sterling--whoops.
Now, if the number of Bitcoins that will be distributed via mining will decline,. the value of Bitcoins will rise over time as the money supply is tightened.A big problem is speculation, it is not possible a bitcoin has an initial value of cents, and now thousands of dollars, it is like giving my money, giving my work.
how to buy Bitcoins - ProtonMail BlogBitcoins have value because they are useful as a form of money. For now, Bitcoin remains by far the most popular decentralized virtual currency,.
Bitcoin value surge sign of criminal activity - Washington
Investing in Bitcoin - wealthdaily.com
The value of Bitcoin has surged to nearly double that of gold.Three key reasons why the Bitcoin value versus the U.S. Dollar is of little significance, and may be totally irrelevant both now, and in the future.
Find all you need to know and get started with Bitcoin on bitcoin.org.Now that the good times are rolling, again, for Bitcoin as a global currency and exchange of value, how far can Bitcoin price go.